Pushing Up Daisies
by unhesitant.aliens
Summary: SI-OC. Sometimes life can be an ugly, ugly thing.
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

* * *

"Sometimes you're the one speeding along in a panic, doing too much, not paying attention, wrecking things you don't mean to. And sometimes life just happens to you, and you can't dodge it. It crashes into you because it wants to see what you're made of." - Alexandra Bracken, _The Darkest Minds_

* * *

You're walking down the street one day, hating your life and angsting about the shitty midterm and how you failed. You're going home to half a dad, who hasn't been whole since your mom left and you're worrying about how much he's eaten that day, how you may need to talk to his doctor about his dosages, how his shitty doctor will look at you in this condescending way and the shitty doctor won't change his dosage. You're worrying about how if you fail this midterm you could potentially fail Government, and you need to pass Government to graduate. You're worrying about your stupid job as a carhop at inset-generic-drive-in-name-here and how the money you make won't be enough to pay for groceries for the two of you, because you miss work all the time and you're boss is on the verge of firing you anyways. You just want all this shit to stop, you want to be a teenage girl worrying about the cute boy in your Government class, finding your dream prom dress, and whether or not your favorite character is dead because the author left the last book on a cliffhanger.

You keep walking and when you reach the crosswalk, the crosswalk light is green and you start walking. You don't look, you never do. You hear people screaming, you look up and everything goes into cliche slow motion mode. All you see is this ugly lime green van barreling towards you at the speed of light, and you don't move. You just freeze, and for a moment time just stops and you're wishing. Wishing you told your dad you loved him this morning, wishing you tried harder to make him be happy, wishing you were a better daughter so your mom would've stayed and he wouldn't be alone, wishing for more time because dammit you **_aren't ready yet_** , you **_haven't done enough yet_**.

Everything is white, there's no searing hot pain like you read in the books. Just a shock of cold, like someone just dropped you in a bucket of ice. You can't move and the white is dizzying and endless. Your eyes burn from the afterglow and you feel light, like the air. You are surrounded by white nothingness for what seems like two seconds before the man in the suit appears in front of you and you have the strange thought that he looks like Morpheus. You burst out laughing and Laurence Fishburne lookalike doesn't really seem to care, he opens his mouth and his voice is light and airy which makes you laugh even harder.

"Tori Donavan, you have been officially chosen for the soul relocation program. I have been assigned as your escort."

At this you freeze. "S-soul relocation?"

"You are to be put through processing effective immediately."

"What? What does that even mean?"

Your setting has changed and you are now walking through a unending hallway of doors. He keeps his hand on your elbow and answers, "You were deemed eligible because of the unfair dealings in your early childhood and your untimely, unexpected death. Your soul or essence, so to speak, is to be transferred into another vessel, where you will be allowed to live your life as you so desire," We stop at a door and he gently nudges me through it, " Use your life wisely miss," and with that he closes the door and you are surrounded by an immediate darkness.

* * *

I rewrote the prologue because the first one sucked and I wasn't happy with it. So here is the new and improved version that is still really short but better too.

 **Edited** : 10/29/2016


	2. The Rebirth (Literally)

**The Rebirth**

* * *

"my mother, poor fish,

wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a

week, telling me to be happy: "Henry, smile!

why don't you ever smile?"

and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the

saddest smile I ever saw"

― Charles Bukowski

* * *

Tori was confused and stuck and very very freaked out. Here she was dead, but not dead because her "essence", was stuck in this odd dark room. Which was strangely comforting, and warm. Still terrifying though, because really soul relocation? How is that even possible? Would she end up in another world, or reincarnated in the same world? Would she remember anything about this room, Laurence Fishburne 2.0, her past life? And her dad? Would he be okay? Who decided that she even deserved a second chance? She was nothing special, just a shy, really awkward, emotionally stunted teenage girl with Mommy issues. Nothing special, just Tori who wasn't an exceptional beauty, who didn't turn heads when she walked into any room, who wasn't exceptionally kind or caring or smart. So what qualified her to be "relocated"? Her Mommy issues? Didn't make sense because there were so many people in the world in the same situation as her, but someone must've seen something she didn't and now here she was.

She felt safe somehow, surrounded by black in what felt like an endless void, she felt safe. Untouchable even. Protected. So when the walls of the black void started closing in on her, she didn't feel quite as scared as she should've, because somehow she knew this was a part of whatever process Fishburne 2.0 had set in motion. She only started feeling scared when she moved. She might've blacked out after that, just a little bit. Tori didn't do the whole stay-awake-while-there-are-literal-walls-closing-in-on-me thing very well. And then there was light and voices and worn hands holding her, which somehow finally made the situation she was in seem real.

Tori screamed and screamed and screamed. Because _holy shit she wasn't Tori anymore_. She was in this new place with new parents and a new goddamn _life._ Is it even possible for one person to even _cope_ with that? She wanted her Dad, their shared dingy apartment that smelled like mothballs and cat pee, the worn old couch that became home base for them on the good days when he was actually lucid and bed on the bad days when she just didn't have the energy to make it to her bed, when it just hurt to even move. She wanted those chocolate chip pancake good days, and those cry alone in the shower bad days. She just wanted to be Tori again.

* * *

She doesn't realize she's not even screaming anymore or that she's been moved until she hears the gentle humming and the quiet murmurs of comfort. Or what she thinks is comfort. She couldn't make out much with her newborn senses, but she could tell that she wasn't in a hospital. Wherever she was it was dimly lit and smelled strongly of earth. She could also feel the heat radiating off whoever was holding her and something else, something that made her feel warm and secure and _safe_. There was still a massive part of her that wanted to kick and scream and cry and not hurt anymore, but goddammit she was tired. So she just let the warmth and security and soothing lullabies guide her to sleep.

* * *

 _She's five playing with her dollhouse, pretending that her parents aren't screaming their lungs out at each other. Pretending not to her the bad words and mean names they call each other. They always make up afterwards, they always love each other afterwards. They'll be fine, because this is normal for them and Mommy's and Daddy's are always okay, no matter how mean they are to each other._

 _She's nine watching her Mom break all the plates in the kitchen because Daddy lost another job and **she just can't take it**. She's crying, not like in the movies where the girls still look pretty when they cry, but like when there's snot everywhere and you're choking a little because you're crying so hard. Mom's scared of losing the house and **"how are we gonna pay the bills?"** You just stand there watching her break until Daddy comes home and tells you to go to your room. That night you and Daddy eat pizza straight from the box while watching cartoons in the living room. Mom stays in their room and sleeps._

 _She's twelve when her Mom leaves. Her Mom sits her down and tells her she'll always love her and that she did nothing wrong and that this won't change their relationship. The next day she watches her Mom get into the cab without even saying goodbye. It's the first and last time she'll ever see her Dad cry. She feels no ache in her heart watching her mom drive out of their lives in a cab. Her mom stops calling two months later._

* * *

When the baby girl wakes up again, Hiyori is shocked by the change in her child's demeanor. The screaming fussy child is not there and in her place is a calm and quiet child with an air of profound sadness shrouding her. She doesn't understand the change, but takes it as a sign for things to come. She promises herself to cherish the time she has with her daughter, her little Eihi.

* * *

AN: Very rambly chapter that hopefully isn't a pile of suck.

 **Edited** : 10/29/16


	3. Paranoia

"...you are my rainbow to keep. My eyes will always be watching you; never will I lose sight of you."

― Vesna Bailey

* * *

When she finally comes to terms with the fact that she has a new life, it's been two months. Two months on complete autopilot, given it's not very hard because of the baby body. For those two months she can feel the anxiety wafting off her mother and she knows she should feel guilty, but fuck she just lost a whole lifetime and for what? For her to go through the wonderful experience of growing up again, but wait, this time you'll remember everything. Golly Gee Whiz isn't that wonderful? She doesn't want a second go at potty training. She _definitely_ doesn't want to go through puberty all over again. She doesn't even want to learn how to speak a second damn language, because of course Fishburne 2.0 had to put her in a world where English obviously wasn't the primary language. She doesn't even know her own name for God's sake. How the hell is she going to learn anything?

It takes her two weeks to realize her new mother was speaking Japanese. It takes another three months for her new mother to catch on to the fact that she's trying to learn, but New Mom seems distracted with something. A bit paranoid about something. New Mom never once takes her outside of the room they're staying in, and this is just a hunch, probably born in. This worries her greatly because if her New Mom is so scared of taking her newborn outside of a dark and dingy room, she could tell because even with her poor baby eyesight the room was still incredibly dark and there was dust just floating around the room in clouds and every so often a cloud would float into her face, then that must've meant she was running from something. Or someone.

* * *

They couldn't stay in the room for any longer, her baby needed fresh air, _she_ needed fresh air. Hiyori missed her home, missed Konoha, missed her old self, but she knew she could never go back and she hated it. With every fiber of her being she hated it. She hated what he did, she hated him,but she refused to hate her girl. She wanted her team back, her family, she wanted her daughter to have a family. People who would love Eihi like she was their blood. She never thought she'd have a baby, not under these circumstances, she'd always had all the family she needed and would ever need. But now she was exiled and she couldn't go back, not with all this shame in her heart. Hiyori hated that, but she had to protect her child first and Konoha was not the place to raise her little one. She knew that, she accepted that. The question was, _why did it have to hurt so damn much?_

* * *

Sometimes her New Mom cried and it broke her heart. She knew those tears, she knew that pain, she felt the loss in that little room. She felt a sadness as infinite as the stars and with all the weight in her lungs daring her to cry she resolved to be enough. Enough for her New Mom's loss to have not been in vain, because even in her early days, even before the complete shitstorm took over, she knew that her Mother's loss held her at fault even if she felt her Mother didn't.

* * *

Yayy finally updated, sorry if this is complete shit. A review would be appreciated.

 **Edited** : 10/29/16


	4. Loss

"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places." ― Ernest Hemingway, _A Farewell to Arms_

* * *

Eihi is one and she's learned her name. She feels accomplished, like she must be doing something right. Her mother has moved them to a new location, somewhere surrounded by fields of of grass and an incredibly peaceful aura. This seems to put her Mom at ease, but sometimes, she can still sense her Mother's dread, her fear, she can feel it contaminating the air of their small cottage.

Eihi is one when she begins to notice something very strange. Now there is an awareness she's never known before, a tingling beneath her skin that she doesn't understand, not yet. She begins to notice the way her Mom moves so lightly, the way her feet almost never make sound, the way her body moves with a fluidity, the way she uses every movement to her advantage.

Eihi's wheels are turning and she feels as if she's missing something. She notices things so much that she fails to notice the knowing look in her Mother's eyes and maybe that's the moment her path is decided.

Eihi is only one when she feels it. Even from so far away, she can sense it. It washes over them, contaminates the very air she breathes until she's choking on the rage and anger. Somewhere far away she feels her mother fighting, to keep her breathing, to keep her alive. Her lungs ache, her heart is barely beating, and her Mother's voice is so far away and for the first time since her death, she is terrified. So she fights beacause damn it, it's too damn soon for her to go. She refuses to let go of her second chance, she screams.

Eihi is only one when she discovers, in this world she's a fighter.

* * *

Hiyori's heart aches. She hears whispers of the Fourth Hokage's death from the merchants she buys from, of the Nine-Tails attack, of the destruction and the pain Konoha is suffering from. She almost goes back, because she doesn't believe it. She almost goes back to see her kids, her students, she almost goes back until she remembers that she can't. There is nothing for her behind those village walls, nothing that can protect her from him, nothing that will help save her daughter. She is a missing nin now, and she wishes she would've stayed. She wishes she would've fought harder, for herself, for her team, for her home.

Hiyori's heart aches but not for herself, for the village that has lost the greatest leader they will ever know, for the lost lives, for the families that will never be able to put themselves back together again, for her village because he hasn't taken away the fire burning in her heart, the one that still burns for the home she abandoned.

Hiyori's heart aches for the teammate she has lost, for the brother who she will never see again, the one who will never grow old or have a family, for the man who will never grow to see his dream of peace be achieved.

Hiyori's heart aches for Minato, her brother, her teammate, her Hokage.

* * *

 **AN:** Another update, with interesting revelations. Thanks for the reviews. I will say that there will definitely be longer chapters in the future, I'm just trying to get to a specific point in this story. Reviews will be greatly appreciated.

 **Edited:** 10/29/16


	5. Mothers and Daughters

"Have courage and be kind."- _Cinderella_

* * *

Hiyori is dying. She can feel it, the effects of the experiments catching up to her. Some days her entire body burns, so badly that she can barely speak. And yet, the pain is bearable, because watching Eihi grow is the most important thing to her. Her saving grace has come so far from the sad, sickly baby she was, she is a happy thing and the only good to come out of that _**man**_. As the years have passed she finds herself at a place of peace, because she now knows that her daughter will grow to be something great and beautiful. Because Hiyori has watched Eihi's eyes glow with intelligence far beyond her years, but also an incredible light. There is nothing cold or clinical, she can sense a warmth within her Angel and that is enough confirmation for her. Still, there is so much Hiyori won't be there to see, to teach, to enjoy.

She refuses to mourn herself while she is still living, while she can still watch her little rosebud grow. She still has her resolve and her wit, nothing he could ever do will break that. So she devises a plan, and prays to every god there is that it will work.

* * *

 **Year Two**

Eihi is two when she finally starts walking. She makes sure to take full advantage of that freedom, and soon enough she is flying down the halls and through the fields by their small home. Even though she's pretty sure babies don't develop that quickly. She feels something whisper at the back of her head, like always, like she should remember and like always, it slips away. Which causes her a great deal of annoyance, which then causes her to lose her focus, which then causes her to stumble. Right into a puddle of mud. Face first. She hears a laugh, one that sounds so pleasantly like bells.

She grunts in annoyance, "Mama s'not funny."

Slurred syllables define her speech, another developmental wonder of this new world, because she's pretty sure when she was two she could barely say monosyllabic words, not the almost full sentences she can speak here.

"Of course not Angel, now come here so Mama can have a look." Her Mama's eyes betray her faint amusement as Eihi carefully walks forward, spitting mud out of her mouth, glowering at the tanned woman before her. Mama smiles.

"Now can you tell me where you were going in such a hurry?" Her voice is gentle, soothing.

"Nowhere, just running. ( _Exploring.)_ " Her Mama frowns at that, smoothing Eihi's mud covered hair and tilting her small head just enough so that Eihi is looking straight into beautiful green eyes.

"You should always be running towards something Angel, running aimlessly gets you nothing. Give yourself a direction, because the ones with no direction always get left behind." Her voice is stern, yet quiet and for a moment Eihi sees something else in her Mama's eyes. It's gone before she can place it. An air of seriousness blankets over them and she feels an ache in her chest as she levels with her Mother's stare. Eihi nods quietly in understanding and she feels like she's just given a lesson, that even her 17 years from Before never taught her.

* * *

Hiyori knows that she shouldn't place something so heavy on her child, but she also knows time is running out and her daughter's intelligence exceeds that of a normal child. Her Angel is well beyond any learning curve set by Village standards, and she senses Eihi is much more than she's letting on. She has so many things to tell Eihi and so little time to do it.

* * *

 **Year Three**

In the middle of her third year in her new world, she discovers something very important. Her mother takes her to the small village they've come to know as home one day, and they visit an old merchant widow. Her name is Miko and Eihi doesn't like her very much. She looks like a bulldog in woman form and her black beady eyes are judgemental and cold. She smells like mothballs and cigarette smoke, and is quite rude to her Mama. When Mama introduces her, she pushes Eihi forward gently and nudges her to stand up staight.

"And who might this little one be Hiyori-baka?" Eihi stiffens.

"Eihi." the small girl all but whispers.

"Speak up little one," Miko succumbs to a fit of gross mucus filled coughs, "and this time look at me when you speak."

"Eihi." she says, louder this time with her eyes trained defiantly at the ground.

Miko narrows her eyes, and looks Eihi up and down, as if examining a specimen. She stares for a long time, until Eihi starts to get antsy. Miko finally, _finally_ decides to speak.

"You kept her?" Miko looks up at her Mama, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I wasn't aware there were other options." Mama's voice is sharp, and Eihi can feel the intensity of her gaze even with her back turned, even though Mama's eyes are not directed at her.

Eihi suddenly feels out of her depth as she is put in the middle of a silent war of the wills. The silence, which seems to last an infinity and a half, is finally broken by her Mother.

"Angel, you go head outside and play, I'm going to be awhile with Miko-baa." Her Mother's voice is quiet, yet firm in her orders and Eihi has no choice but to quietly nod and walk outside.

She almost reaches the door when she hears the quiet hiss, "How **dare** you bring that **thing** to me." She stiffens and then numbly walks out of the small shack. What did that mean? Was there something wrong with her?

She sits on the front step, quietly until her Mother walks out looking like she's just fought a war and quietly wraps her in an all encompassing hug. They stay like that for a long time, until her Mother slowly pulls away and looks her in the eye with a fierce determination.

"I love you, Angel. Don't you ever forget that." and with that Eihi starts to cry and she feels some of her past pain slowly dissapate. She hugs her Mama fiercely.

"Love you too, Mama."

* * *

 **Year Four**

Eihi wakes up screaming her throat raw, she's had another nightmare. Mama immediately wakes up, tired eyes turned on Eihi worriedly. She never had them Before, and she doesn't understand why she's having them now. It's always the same man haunting her dreams, always the same terrible eyes, she doesn't understand why she's so terrified. The tingling sensation she's been feeling since her first year intensifies.

"Angel, tell me what's wrong." Eihi shakes her head quietly, body shivering in fear under her worn blanket. She can barely speak. Hiyori frowns.

"S-sing m-me a s-song Mama." she hiccups. Hiyori has only recently started singing Eihi to sleep, and has found her daughter responds well to music. Her Mama opens her arms and Eihi immediately slides into their safety.

Her Mama rocks them back and forth and starts to hum a tune. It's new and Eihi wonders how many songs her Mama knows, she sings a different one to Eihi every night.

Hiyori starts to sing and this time there is something distinctly somber hanging in the air tonight.

 _Of all the money that e'er I had_

 _I've spent it in good company_

 _And all the harm that e'er I've done_

 _Alas it was to none but me_

 _And all I've done for want of wit_

 _To memory now I can't recall_

 _So fill to me the parting glass_

 _Good night and joy be with you all_

 _Of all the comrades that e'er I had_

 _They are sorry for my going away_

 _And all the sweethearts that e'er I had_

 _They would wish me one more day to stay_

 _But since it falls unto my lot_

 _That I should rise and you should not_

 _I'll gently rise and I'll softly call_

 _Good night and joy be with you all_

 _A man may drink and not be drunk_

 _A man may fight and not be slain_

 _A man may court a pretty girl_

 _And perhaps be welcomed back again_

 _But since it has so ought to be_

 _By a time to rise and a time to fall_

 _Come fill to me the parting glass_

 _Good night and joy be with you all_

 _Good night and joy be with you all_

Eihi falls asleep fast, and soon the only sound to kill the silence was Hiyori's high sweet voice, although even in sleep the melancholy song resonates with Eihi. That night the two sleep with tears in their eyes.

* * *

 **Year Five**

A week after Eihi's fifth birthday, Hiyori falls ill. Miko-baa swoops in and becomes Eihi's and her Mother's primary caretaker. Throughout it she is surprisingly gentle.

She wakes Eihi at dawn one morning, with dread in her black eyes. "Go to your Mother, listen carefully to what she has to say."

Eihi numbly walks in and kneels at her Mother's side. Hiyori smiles weakly, and brushes the hair out of her daughter's face.

"I have something for you Angel." Eihi doesn't respond, she stares at her Mother's face as if to memorise all the smiles and songs given to her in this short five years.

"Hold your hand out." Eihi obeys, and a pendant is dropped in her palm. Her Mother gently closes her hand around Eihi's, making a loose fist around the pendant. Hiyori studies Eihi's face and sees a tear slip from her eye.

"Hey, don't be like that Angel. I need you to listen closely." Eihi nods, Hiyori continues, "I want you to promise me you'll never lose that light in your heart, no matter how hard people try to snuff it out. There are going to be darker days than this beautiful girl, promise me you'll find your path."

Eihi sighs voice shaking, "I-I p-promise Mama." Hiyori smiles serenely.

"Remember that there will always be something to fight for, that there won't always be people on your side, find your precious people baby and don't let them go, remember there is no measure of love and you can always make room for more if you need to, but most of all remember to smile and be happy. I love you Eihi, don't you ever forget that."

"I love you too, Mama."

Eihi sits there for what feels like hours, memorising all the things that make her Mother. Her deep reddish brown hair, her kind green eyes, her beautiful brown skin, the laugh lines that make her face perpetually kind, the way her hand still covers Eihi's like a warm blanket, the way her presence sends a wave of calm through her.

She watches slowly, helplessly as the light leaves her Mother's eyes, the shine in her hair fades into something dull and ugly, as her Mother's ethereal glow leaves her and makes the room seem colder and crueler somehow. She sits there for a long time before Miko-baa walks in quietly, like an intruder and gently pulls Eihi into a comfortless hug.

Eihi doesn't even know she's been crying, until the sobs wrack her body and she is completely broken by grief.

* * *

Song: the parting glass

 **A/N:** Hoping this wasn't too cliche or cheesy, also hoping this highlights the relationship between Eihi and Hiyori nicely. The story picks up steam next chapter. Also shoutout to my followers and favorites people, thanks for the love. And to the reviewers thanks for the feedback.

 **Edited:** 10/29/16


	6. Revelations

"Yes, Mother. I can see you are flawed. You have not hidden it. That is your greatest gift to me." - Alice Walker

* * *

Eihi's eyes are bloodshot and as she stops crying, she finally takes the chance to look at the pendant her mother has given her. She realizes she's been squeezing it so tightly that it has left a quarter sized indent in the middle of her tiny five year old hands. As she stares she notices something strange, almost recognizable about the way the pendant is constructed. Eihi is still staring at the pendant when Miko walks in and none to gently tugs her toward their- now just hers, she thinks bitterly- tiny kitchen.

"Listen kid, I don't know what your mother hasn't told you, if she even has told you anything yet, but I figured she would've wanted you to have this." Miko's gnarled hands shove something cold and worn into her small hands. She blinks, her eyes are dry and burning from all the tears she's shed in the past few hours. Her vision becomes blurred as she looks down at the...headband?

"What is this?" Eihi is staring at the blue cloth, the metal plate, the familiar swirl. She can feel the bile forcing its way up as she tries to push it back down. She runs her small thumb over the line engraved through the symbol on the metal plate.

Her heart stutters and her breath is held captive in her lungs, blood roaring in her ears. All sounds are muffled by that roaring, Miko is saying something that she can't hear. The only things that matter in that moment, in the tiny kitchen of the home she's come to know and love, are herself and the _**headbandheadbandheadband**_. She repeats it like a mantra, and she feels something in her mind click, through all the fog and the hurricane swirling in her mind she finally understands.

She looks up from the hea- no hitai-tae- no. No. A wave of nausea mixed with dread hits her and she feels an ache so deep she'd almost forgotten it was there. She can't breathe, she feels a flush rise to her cheeks, her heart is pounding. She breathes, the sound is shaky and disturbingly emotional. She steels herself.

"What does this mean, Miko-baa?" For me. The words go unsaid, and judging her reaction Miko deduces that her idiot mother must've told her something.

"This means we have to leave."

"Where?" the word comes out bitter, angry not a tone that any five year old should ever be able to emulate.

"Konoha."

"What's in Konoha?"

"People. Teachers. _I_ can't teach you the things you need to learn and your mother certainly couldn't. There are people that can in Konoha." Her tone is too gentle for the Miko-baa Eihi knows, with no real trace of disdain or bitterness in her words. She doesn't like it. It sounds too much like regret.

"Things I need to learn? When do we leave?"

"You'll find out soon enough kid. Sundown, pack lightly. We won't be coming back." She sounds sad, almost not like the old woman in the shack. Not like the woman who called her a monster.

"...Mom?"

"It's already taken care of."

With that Eihi nods silently, knuckles white from gripping the hitai-itae, she walks away on wobbly knees.

As Eihi watches her house-her home- burn down, she remembers Tori. She hasn't thought of her, since that day, since her "soul relocation." She wonders about her dad, she wonders if he's okay, if he's alive. Her stomach drops and the guilt pours into her gut and her entire body begins to ache. She misses him. She misses home. She wonders about the kids in her class who never bothered with her, the cute boy in Government, her shitty boss, and she misses it, all of it. And as she's lifted into the back of a merchant's wagon that will take her to Konoha, she misses her Mother. Not Hiyori, who was more than she deserved, but Helen who was cold and angry and resentful. Helen who told her in a fit of misplaced rage at the tender age of seven that if she hadn't been born her life wouldn't be such a fucking mess. She was drunk of course and when she woke up the next morning, she cried voice filled with 'please forgive me baby' and 'I'm so sorry.'

She is so lost in her own thoughts that she doesn't realize that she didn't notice the slash going through the middle of the metal plate. She is so enamored by the sight of her smoldering little cottage home, that she doesn't notice the old woman sitting across from her silently crying.

* * *

Miko knew the child was going to be different when Hiyori had first come to her asking her for help. The girl had barely been skin and bones, covered in bruises and small white scars. Her eyes were sunken in and hollow, there was no life there, no light. She barely spoke at all and when she did it was always no more than a whisper. That first month with Hiyori had been terrible, like living with a corpse. When Hiyori had finally told her why, in a moment of anger and disgust Miko had thrown her out. Sort of. She put her in an old cave bunker of sorts, away from prying eyes and far far away from **him**.

Because Hiyori was _pregnant_ and she actually wanted to keep the **thing**. That's when she knew the child would be different, because while the child would grow up with no shortage of love it would always be part **monster**. How Hiyori could possibly come to love and care for it, Miko would never know. As the pregnancy went on, Miko began to notice a drastic decline in Hiyori's health, as if the child was a life sucking parasite. The only reason Hiyori even survived childbirth, it seemed, was through sheer willpower and a newly manifested ability. Whether the child would manifest the ability was yet to be seen. As Hiyori got stronger, and relocated so did Miko. Hiyori was her only family left, after all. She kept her distance though, until Hiyori had gotten sick.

When Miko had gotten there while the child was sleeping, she had a healer with her, but Hiyori had refused to be healed and just smiled and said _"You know this plan won't work if I'm still alive, right?"_

With that Miko sent the healer away, and spent months as both Hiyori's and the kid's care taker. She was surprised at how willing the child was to help and be put to work. The bond between mother and child was a fierce one, that shocked Miko in it's intensity.

Over those last month's of Hiyori's life the girl was a quiet presence always by her mother's side. In those months, Miko hadn't realized it, but she had begun to finally understand why Hiyori had kept the child. The girl was gentle and kind, maybe a little to stubborn, but she exuded this warmth that was unheard of in their cruel world, a child unaware of the violent nature of her very creation.

Miko doesn't know when her opinion changed, but she does know that she has looked monsters in the eye before and the girl was more than what she was intended for.

As she watched the young girl enamored by the light of the fading fire, she sent a quick prayer to the gods asking for a miracle, all the while never noticing the silent tears dripping down her weathered face.

* * *

When he finds the remnants of an old burnt down shack, he feels the cold fury wash over him in waves. He was too late again, and if this was a game then that woman would be winning. Not for long though, because he doesn't take to losing well.

* * *

 **A/N:** I am sooooooo fucking sorry for the long wait but, here is this long overdue mess. I hope you like it, and thanks to all the favorites, follows, and reviews so far. Next chapter will hopefully come sooner and be longer, because Konoha is definitely happening. Something I've been pumped about for a while.

 **Edited:** 10/29/16


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